Harlequins’ Charlie Walker wants to continue Leicester Tigers record

November 18, 2016

18:18

Charlie Walker insists everyone at Harlequins is desperate to rectify their away form in Aviva Premiership Rugby and continue their stellar recent record against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road on Sunday.

John Kingston’s side have won three of their last six clashes at Welford Road, but Richard Cockerill’s side have lost just the once at home this season – 34-22 to second-place Wasps in Round 2.

Harlequins have mixed stunning results – their 17-10 victory over Saracens at the Stoop is the only time the Aviva Premiership champions have lost this year – with a number of losses away from home.

But after grinding out a first away win of the season against Ospreys in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, Walker is adamant Quins are raring to go ahead of ‘Tigers Week’.

“It’s what we look forward to every season, going up to Welford Road in front of 25,000 people. It’s probably one of the best grounds to play at in the Aviva Premiership,” the 23-year-old winger said.

“Welford Road, it’s where we all the boys want to play as you said we’ve got a good record so confidence should be high come Sunday”

“We know we need to be better away from home. We know the buzz that’s going to be there at home when we play Sarries.

“We need that when we go away from home and it’s just the 15 of us and it’s what we’ve all been trying to buy into this last couple of weeks.

“I think we’ve kind of looked at it that our away performances have not been good enough and we need to get it sorted. We had a good win away in Wales last week and it’s our first away win of the season.

“When we get momentum there’s a good buzz around the club and now it’s about keeping it going and looking forward to the weekend.”

Kingston’s men sit sixth in the Aviva Premiership but are just two points behind Tigers and they can leapfrog the East Midlanders if they win on Sunday.

England winger Marland Yarde – fresh from a first victory over South Africa in a decade – comes back into the fold and though Walker starts from the bench, he believes his team-mates will go out to put on a show at Welford Road.

He said: “We’ve been looking forward to it for weeks but it’s a tough couple of weeks for everyone – you can’t really say much about it, you just have to get on with it.

“It’s always been our way that we’ll go out and put on a show.

“They’ll try and dominate us up front, the back-line needs to show the character. They’ll probably try and get our breakdown and mess up our ball. If we get that stuff right it allows us to play our game of rugby.

“We know they’re a decent side, they’re going really well this year, we need to go out there and put everything we can onto the pitch.”